Etymograph

English

duration

Duration comes from Medieval Latin dūrātiō, from Latin dūrō ‘to harden, make hard’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dweh₂- ‘long, distant’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂-1‘long, distant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂rós1‘long’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dūros1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrus1‘hard’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrō2‘to harden, make hard’
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500dūrātiō3
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400duracion3
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500duracioun3
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2022duration3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin duro
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin duratio
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English duration
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2022, Paul Bigland, From rural branches to high-speed arteries: “To make matters worse, we pass through a torrential…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂-Wiktionary, Latin duro‘long, distant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂rósWiktionary, Latin duro‘long’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dūrosWiktionary, Latin duroreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrusWiktionary, Latin duro‘hard’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrōWiktionary, Latin duratio‘to harden, make hard’
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500dūrātiōWiktionary, English duration
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400duracionWiktionary, English duration
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500duraciounWiktionary, English duration
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2022durationWiktionary, English duration. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2022, Paul Bigland, From rural branches to high-speed arteries: “To make matters worse, we pass through a torrential…”

Linked words

through Latin dūrus ‘hard’

durability, duress, dour, dur, durum, 12 more

through Latin dūrō ‘to harden, make hard’

during, endure, durable, durant, 6 more

Today it means

noun An amount of time or a particular time interval.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “duration”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin duro, Latin duratio. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dweh₂- / duration

Shirt and support for this word